By Nila Harris
FALMOUTH — When local mail carrier Chevonna Simpson required surgery at the end of last month, she was pleasantly surprised with a unique gift — a Woobie blanket from Oakland Christian Church.
It was unique, Simpson said, because she was not a member of the church and because the blanket was referred to as a “woobie.”
The term woobie came from the 1983 movie “Mr. Mom” in which one of the children carried around a blanket and called it a woobie.
The Woobie Blanket Ministry started at Oakland Christian Church around 2002 when then-youth coordinator Tammy Spicer was searching for a service project that could be ongoing.
The woobie is a no-sew fleece blanket made by cutting and tying knots around its sides.
Fellow woobie maker Bonnie Bloomfield worked alongside Spicer and explained that some of the children were too little to use scissors independently, so the teens and adults would cut and the littles would tie.
After Spicer left Oakland and the youth moved on to other projects, adults in the church maintained the ministry.
The church supports the ministry by allocating money for fleece in its budget each year. Church members have been known to give donations of fleece to the committee when they see a sale or find something that catches their eye.
Bloomfield, who heads the committee, is the purchaser of the fleece, but other hands, like those of Agnes Moore, who cuts the cloth, and Connie Bowling, who embroiders the sentiment on each blanket, are big assets to the projects.
“Our previous pastor (Jim Flaugher) has one that everyone had a hand in. Several took a turn at cutting and lots more made a knot or two. Literally, a gift made with lots of love,” Bloomfield said.
Many people, like Simpson, have been blessed by a woobie blanket.
“I’ve embroidered hundreds of them,” Bowling said.
She explained how they keep a notebook with all the recipients’ names in it.
Several years ago, Cheri Figgins was fighting cancer and was given a blanket. Once, when she and her husband, Gary, were traveling, they were the first to come upon a serious car wreck. Figgins grabbed her blanket and gave it to the victim while waiting for an ambulance.
Bloomfield described how profound it feels to give but also to receive a blanket.
“When you receive, it makes the situation REAL. I lost both parents to cancer. When my dad was diagnosed, it was, ‘OK, we’ll make some adjustments and live life.’
“Then, one Sunday, I was sitting in the pew after church chatting, and someone, I honestly can’t remember now who, draped a woobie over the pew beside me, and I felt a hand on my shoulder, then a voice said, ‘This is for your dad.’ I couldn’t speak, couldn’t breathe. All of a sudden, it became REAL.”
Bloomfield’s dad used the blanket throughout the time he had. Her mother was given one too but asked that Bloomfield give it back to the church to comfort someone else, while she used her husband’s woobie for comfort.
OCC member Sherry Fields is well acquainted with the giving and receiving of the woobies, too. She and her husband, Jim, were the ones who brought the blanket to Simpson and have delivered many others.
“When my dad was dying, he lived in Fort Myers,” Fields said. “They’d (the church) sent one to him. When he was in hospice down there, I held onto that blanket all the time.
“I told the church that I was 1,500 miles away sitting with my daddy dying, and no friends or family there to support me but Jim. The blanket was my support. I knew my church family was there by holding onto it for comfort and support.”
Just last week, woobies were given to a 4-year-old fighting cancer, and a 95-year-old woman who had gallbladder surgery. Woobies have been given to families who have experienced a fire, serious illnesses, deaths, and/or hardships.
Bowling said that she finished embroidering two giveaway blankets for OCC’s upcoming ladies’ Teatime with Jesus on April 22. This event is free and open to the public from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Oakland Christian Church, 149 Oakland Church Road, Falmouth, off Highway 22 East.